Ecosystems


Viruses May Be Causing Coral Bleaching and Decline Around the World

Scientists have discovered two viruses that appear to infect the single-celled microalgae that reside in corals and are important for coral growth and health, and they say the viruses could play a role in the serious decline of coral ecosystems around the world.

Improving Air Quality With No-Till Cropping

Studies by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists show some no-till management systems can lower atmospheric levels of PM10—soil particles and other material 10 microns or less in diameter that degrade air quality—that are eroded from crop fields via the wind.

Natural Climate Shifts Drove Coral Reefs to a Total Ecosystem Collapse

Climate change drove coral reefs to a total ecosystem collapse lasting thousands of years, according to a paper published this week in Science.

Scientists Discover New Trigger for North Atlantic Ocean Spring Plankton Bloom

In what’s known as the North Atlantic Bloom, an immense number of phytoplankton burst into existence, first “greening,” then “whitening” the sea as one or more species take the place of others.

Warmer Baltic Sea May Promote Harmful Algal Blooms

Global warming can signal bad news for the Baltic ecosystem. If the waters of the Baltic get warmer, it may instigate low oxygen conditions and massive blooms of cyanobacteria ("blue-green algae").

Seabirds Study Shows Plastic Pollution Reaching Surprising Levels

Plastic pollution off the northwest coast of North America is reaching the level of the notoriously polluted North Sea, according to a new study led by a researcher at the University of British Columbia.

Visibility to Improve at 18 National Parks and Wilderness Areas

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to approve Arizona’s air quality plan to control sulfur dioxide and soot at three power plants in the state.

Rising Heat at the Beach Threatens Largest Sea Turtles, Climate Change Models Show

For eastern Pacific populations of leatherback turtles, the 21st century could be the last. New research suggests that climate change could exacerbate existing threats and nearly wipe out the population.



Study Slashes Deforestation Carbon Emission Estimate

A new study with NASA participation has sharply reduced previous estimates of how much carbon was emitted into Earth's atmosphere from tropical deforestation in the early 2000s.

Significant Sea Level Rise in a 2-Degree Warming World

The study is the first to give a comprehensive projection for this long perspective, based on observed sea-level rise over the past millennium, as well as on scenarios for future greenhouse-gas emissions.

Arctic Climate More Vulnerable Than Previously Thought

First analyses of the longest sediment core ever collected on land in the Arctic, published this week in Science, provide dramatic, "astonishing" documentation that intense warm intervals, warmer than scientists thought possible, occurred there over the past 2.8 million years.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Launches Interactive Website on Endangered Species

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Endangered Species Program has launched a new, web-based interactive map with information about endangered species success in every state.

Melting Sea Ice Threatens Emperor Penguins

If global temperatures continue to rise, the Emperor penguins in Terre Adélie, in East Antarctica, may eventually disappear, according to a new study by led by researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI).

Expansion of Forests in the European Arctic Could Result in the Release of Carbon Dioxide

Carbon stored in Arctic tundra could be released into the atmosphere by new trees growing in the warmer region, exacerbating climate change, scientists have revealed.

As World Warms, Conservation Evolves

Climate and Conservation offers a glimpse of climate change beyond images of melting Arctic ice—illustrating that landscapes and seascapes in places like the coastal Caribbean, mountainous eastern Australia, and the Brazilian Amazon are all susceptible to climate related impacts.

Grasshoppers Frightened By Spiders Affect Whole Ecosystem

How do grasshoppers who are being frightened by spiders affect our ecosystem? In no small measure, say researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and at Yale University in the US.

Texas A&M Experts Make New Underwater Discoveries

Texas A&M University, one of a few select schools that carries the rare designation of being a land grant, sea grant and space grant institution, has several researchers who have identified new marine species.

Global Climate Change: Underestimated Impact of Sea Level Rise on Habitat Loss?

The hidden impact of sea-level rise: current projections may be underestimating the consequences of global climate change on habitat loss.

Climate Change Will Alter Risks of Wildfire Worldwide, Some Shifts Rapid, Extensive

A Texas Tech University climate scientist said climate change is widely expected to disrupt future fire patterns around the world, with some regions, such as the western United States, seeing more frequent fires within the next 30 years.

Great Lakes Initiative Cleanup Helps Restore Grand Calumet River

The recent completion of a $52 million project to rid Roxana Marsh of contaminated sediment will speed the recovery of Indiana’s Grand Calumet River, marking a step forward for one of the Great Lakes’ most complex Area of Concern cleanups.